Steelers at Dolphins: Highlights, score, and recap
By Matt Kerns
In one of the bigger upsets of the week, the Miami Dolphins defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-15 Sunday.
Quite honestly, (and don’t get mad Dolphins fans) but the Steelers don’t lose this game with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger playing for all four quarters. But, he was injured on his first interceptions of the game. Even when he returned, it was clear that he wasn’t near 100%.
The Steelers are still one of the elite teams in football. The Dolphins meanwhile, are still one of the worst. Ryan Tannehill didn’t play as poorly as he did in the past, but it wasn’t a performance to note. In typical Tannehill fashion, he got his fair share of yards, throwing for 252 of them.
It was Jay Ajayi who stepped up big for the Dolphins. Tannehill didn’t throw an interception, and was able to rely on their running game to support the offense. Having the starting offensive line helped quite a bit too.
Three Stars
1-Jay Ajayi
The running game finally woke up for the Dolphins, well sort of. Miami had control of the ball for ( ) and were able to run the ball effectively against a gassed Steelers defense. With Roethlisberger getting injured, the Dolphins were able to take advantage of a weak Steelers offense for most of the game. Ajayi exploded for 204 yards on 25 carries. He averaged. 8.2 yards and had two touchdowns.
2-Dolphins offensive line
After last week’s horrendous performance against the Titans, the Dolphins buckled down, not allowing a single sack. As a team, they averaged 6.2 yards on the ground and had 222 total yards rushing on 36 carries. Laremy Tunsil was injured and didn’t return.
3-Miami’s run defense
Well, the Steelers did run for 128 yards and a touchdown, but 60 of those yards and the touchdown came on one play. For the most part, the Dolphins did their job stopping the run and containing Le’Veon Bell and DeAngello Williams. It was just the second time all year that their opponent didn’t rush for over 100 yards on the ground.
Odds
The Steelers were favored by 8.5 points.
Next Week
The Steelers will take on New England next week at home. Miami will stay put at home and meet the Buffalo Bills for the first time this year.